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Save the Wild Turkey — Hunt one
By Russell Graves
Spring of 2004 found my brother and I walking through the ash trees in a broad and muddy bottomland in Fannin County, Texas. Just off a deployment to Afghanistan, his time on leave from the United States Army was brief. Luckily, however, it coincided with the new spring turkey season in Fannin County.
Only the second year in existence at the time, the season was short: a five-day work week bookended by weekends gave us only nine days to hunt eastern wild turkeys.
For years, we have seen small flocks and single birds on the Caddo National Grasslands in the northern part of the county, but until the second year of the county’s newly created spring turkey season, we have never seen many turkeys in the mid county area where we hunted most of our lives.
Just a year before this hunt, I saw a few turkeys slipping through the dark timber and heard several gobbles in response to a distant barred owl’s iconic call. This was the first time I could conclude that turkeys were indeed on the property.
On opening morning, we stood and waited and listened in the dark in a thick grove of red cedars that creates a boundary between the upland oaks and the bottomland hardwoods. As the sun burnished the eastern sky, we heard a couple of toms gobble about two hundred yards away. Moving in their direction, we eventually set up in the timber to call the birds the rest of the way to us. Vernally fresh, the trees were adorned with Virginia creeper while the air was filled with the pungent smell of wild onions.
We sat, called, and five minutes later a trio of toms slinked in from the east. With a single trigger pull from my pump shotgun, my turkey fell 22 yards from my feet and 10 minutes after sunrise. As we talked, we heard another solitary tom calling to the north. My brother was scheduled to leave again in just a few days so we exchanged gear. He took the shotgun while I handled the calling. We slowly hiked for ten minutes and made a stand on the south side of a small creek. Just minutes after I first made the slate call purr, a huge, mature gobbler stood 10 yards across the creek from us and strutted. Bubba sealed the deal.
To read more pick up a copy of the June 2018 NTFR issue. To subscribe call 940-872-5922.
By Krista Lucas Wynn
Each year, when the professional rodeo season wraps on Sept. 30, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Women’s Professional Rodeo Association announce the Nutrena Horse of the Year, presented by the American Quarter Horse Association, in each event. This is a prestigious award, voted on by the members of the associations. To be named Horse of the Year by fellow competitors is a high honor only a few achieve.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Heather Welper
Husband and wife duo, Heather and Calvin Welper, are the Co-Owners and Operators or Two C Livestock, located in Valley View, Texas.
The pair’s operation has a show cattle focus where they raise and sell purebred heifers of all breeds and club calf Hereford steers.
When it comes to show cattle, the Welpers know a thing or two including how to prepare for the cold winter months and the Texas major show season run.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
By Tony Dean
Snow on the Mountain is an annual forb that is part of our landscape almost every year.
It is adapted to most of Texas and grows north to Montana and Minnesota and south to Mexico.
Although is seems to be most adapted to clay soils, this plant can be found on a wide variety of soil and moisture conditions.
To read more, pick up a copy of the November edition of North Texas Farm & Ranch magazine, available digitally and in print. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.
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